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BOOK NOTICES. 



The chair was now taken by the Rev, Wm. Fowler. M.A., himself an ex- 

 president of the Union, who moved a vote of thanks to Lord Walsins^ham for the 

 very kind and hospitable manner in which he had received the Union and its 

 members. This was seconded by Mr. Thomas Hick, B.A., B.Sc, of Harrogate, 

 supported by Mr. Thomas Lister, of Barnsley, and carried with acclamation. In 

 reply His Lordship said that it had been a particular pleasure to him to have that 

 opportunity of welcoming the members to Blubberhouses, and to be able in any 

 such way to contribute to the knowledge of the natural history of the district. He 

 was also glad of the opportunity of trying in some way to repay the Union for the 

 kind indulgence with which they received in 1884 his inefficient performance of 

 the duties of president, and to express the great regret that he had in being unable, 

 in consequence of havmg to go abroad, to accept the office for the second year, as 

 they had asked him to do. As to the proceedings of the day he thought that what 

 one section had lost by the lateness of the season another had gained. He hoped 

 that he had that day acted up to the old motto of his maternal family, the Frank- 

 lands — ^' Libera terra, liberque animus ' (Frank land, frank mind) — a motto which 

 he and his good cousin there present, Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, had inherited from 

 Sir Robert Frankland, and they were then standing upon ground which had 

 descended through their grandfather from the time of Queen Elizabeth, and the 

 breaking up of the old Royal Forest of Knaresborough in 1562. It sounded like 

 a Liberal motto, but he must confess that both he and his cousin belonged to that 

 hard hearted and much-abused class of people., the old Tories. He hoped, 

 however, that they would never fail to act up to their motto. This concluded the 

 day's business. During the return drive to Harrogate the weather broke in heavy 

 showers, after having favoured the members throughout the day with the finest and 

 cheeriest of autumn days. 



BOOK NOTICES. 



Topography and Natural History of Lofthouse and its Neigh- 

 bourhood; with the Diary of a Naturalist, and Rural 

 Notes. — By George Roberts. Vol. II. Leeds: Printed for the Author. 

 1885. Small 8vo., pp. viii. and 258. 

 The author of this book has long ranked as one of the most industrious and 

 careful of local naturalists, and we are pleased to welcome from his pen the second 

 instalment of his book, in which his chronological record is carried from 1875 

 the end of 1883. These records form a useful storehouse of facts, readily accessible 

 to all who are working especially at the correlation of phenological phenomena. 

 But the book contains more than this. Apart from the topography, a subject 

 which lies outside our scope, we find at the outset some very interesting remarks 

 on the fauna and flora, especially in view of the influence — mostly destructive — • 

 which is exercised by the polluted atmosphere of the West Riding manufacturing 

 district, near the north-eastern verge of which Lofthouse stands. A list of tlie 

 rarer flowering plants and ferns of the district is given at the end, as an addition to 

 previous lists, and is followed by a molluscan fauna of Lofthouse and district. 



Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn 

 of 1884.— By Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown, Mr. J. Cordeaux, Mr. R. M. 

 Barrington, Mr. G. A. More, and Mr. W. Eagle Clarke. Sixth Report 

 (Vol. II., No. I.). West, Newman & Co., 1885. Price 2s. 

 We regret that pressure of matter on our available space has prevented our 

 earlier noticing the Migration Report. The one before us is bulkier than formerly, 

 partly because the West Coast of England is included, after two or three years' 

 omission, and partly because of the inevitable tendency to expansion which works 

 of this class usually possess. Indeed, the greatest care seems to be necessary on 

 the part of the reporters in the future in order to counteract this tendeacy to grovth 

 in their work, as well as to present it in a digested and arranged plan. This leads 

 one to inquire why each reporter is left entirely to his own devices in framing his 

 report. Would it not be preferable that the Committee should agree upon one 

 uniform plan of working up their material, so as to facilitate comparison in the first 

 place of the reports in the same volume, and in the second place of the reports f^r 

 different years ? So great is the mass of valuable information which is brought 



Naturaliit. 



